Digital Storytelling for the Classroom

Essential Question: How do elements, characteristics and content work together to make a good digital story?

What is Digital Storytelling?

• The Elements of a Good Digital Story

• You can also explore the Center for Digital Storytelling YouTube Channel for tons of videos about Digital Storytelling https://www.youtube.com/user/CenterOfTheStory

Looking at some of the examples of Digital Stories

• http://digitalstorytelling4kids.posterous.com/
• http://mcli.maricopa.edu/storytelling/examples
• http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu
• http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu
• http://www.youtube.com/user/Centerofthestory

Setting the Stage for a Digital Story Project in your Classroom

• Digital Stories are great projects to do with students in the classroom. Students enjoy the projects because they are fun to create. Teachers enjoy doing these types of projects, because if well designed, they really engrain the content into the student's mind because they are engaged. It is always important to make sure that the curriculum is the focus and that students do not focus on the technology and skimp on the curriculum. These types of projects are great to do with harder concepts to teach or abstract concepts because these types of projects are hands on. In many cases, students must have a firm grasp of the content in order to actually create the project to satisfaction. When considering if a media project might work for you, consider the following:
  • Where in the curriculum would be a good place?
  • Where in the curriculum would it benefit the most? why?
• Be sure to allow plenty of time to work on the project. Depending on your grade level, students may have to complete parts of it at home. It is important to set the stage carefully for the project so that students can be guided through the process step by step.

Claymation and Stop Photography

If you are already a Digital Story Master, you may consider learning a little more about Claymation and Stop Motion Photography which can be done on your phone or the computer. As an alternative to the Digital Story project, you may do a Claymation or Stop Motion Photography project.

• http://stopmotionmovies.yolasite.com/step-by-step-moviemaking.php
  
  

Exploring Royalty Free Digital Resources (Explore)

Teachers today bemoan the fact that students are constantly copying content off the web. This is a real issue in our society today and one that has legal consequences depending on the severity of the infraction. Students must learn that content on the web is copyrighted in most cases and that the content may be used only with permission and proper documentation. There are many royalty free resources available out there for teachers and students to use with projects. These types of resources are free to use without penalty. However, sources should still be documented.

Explore the following Guideline for Copyright and also the free resources below that will help you as you put together some of your multimedia projects.

• Download the Copyright Guide by Hall Davidson
• How to avoid copyright pitfalls

• Free Music Sites
• Jamendo: http://www.royaltyfreemusiclibrary.com/
• MusOpen: http://www.musopen.com/
• Artist Server: http://artistserver.com/
• ccMixter: http://ccmixter.org/
• The Free Sound Project: http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/
• Partners in Rhyme: http://www.partnersinrhyme.com/
• PD Sounds: http://www.pdsounds.org/
• Find Sounds: http://www.findsounds.com/
• Copyright Free Images and Sounds: http://copyrightfriendly.wikispaces.com/

• Free Image Sites
• tock Xchang: www.sxc.hu
• Morgue File: http://www.morguefile.com/archive/
• Public Domain Photos 8: http://www.photos8.com/
• Pics 4 Learning: http://pics4learning.com/
• Every Stock Photo: http://www.everystockphoto.com/
• Flickr Creative Commons Search: http://flickr.com/creativecommons/
• Microsoft Online Clipart Gallery: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/
• Open Clipart: http://openclipart.org/
• Copyright Free Images and Sounds: http://copyrightfriendly.wikispaces.com/

• Creative Commons Search Tools
• Freebase: http://www.freebase.com/signin/
• Google Advanced Search: http://www.google.com/advanced_search
• Wikimedia Commons: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
• Yahoo Creative Commons Search: http://search.yahoo.com/cc

Creating your Digital Story

You may use any tool you prefer to create a digital story. I would suggest you use PhotoStory 3 (Download Here: Windows XP), If you do not have a Windows XP Machine, you can still install PhotoStory but you will have to run it in compatibility mode:

• Download the Microsoft photo story 3 from the manufacturer’s website. http://www.microsoft.com/en-in/download/details.aspx?id=11132 b) Right-click on the Microsoft photo story and click on ‘properties’.
• Click on the ‘compatibility’ tab and check the box ‘Run this program in compatibility mode for’ and select Windows XP operating system from the drop down.
• Click on ‘Apply’ and click ‘OK’ and run the file to install it.

You could also use MovieMaker or iMovie or any other tool you choose to create your Digital Story. You can find tutorials on all these tools in the internet and YouTube. Below is a brief tutorial on how to use PhotoStory 3

Digital Storytelling Resources

Please use the following resources to help guide you through your project:

• Digital Storytelling Guide | Jeff McCoy
  

  Digital Story Telling Course Outline.pdf
  

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• DIgital Storytelling/Claymation Templates
• Digital Storytelling rubric Examples
• Digital Storytelling rubric Example 2

Your Assignment

In this assignment, you will create a Digital Story, Claymation OR Stop Motion photography project for your students as an example of what they are going to do for their assignment. If you are teaching younger students, consider creating one of the above that tells a story for them to watch or teaches a concept.

• Explore the difference between Digital Stories, Claymations and Stop Motion Photography by using the above links and/or Googling. There are countless examples out there on the web.
• Once you have chosen which of the above projects you would like to complete as an example for your students, create the following:
  • Implementation Guide: This is what will guide your students in the steps and processes. Look at the resource above, particularly the Digital Storytelling Guide. This guide contains the steps you may want to use with your students. Depending on the level you teach, you may have more or less steps. You can create this guide as a Word Document, Pamphlet, web page, etc. This will simply guide the parents and students through the process of creating their digital story. This may be as simple and/or as complex as you decide to make it.
  • Project Example: Create the actual project example for your students. This will help them understand what it is you want and will also allow them to see a concrete version of what you are expecting.
  • Rubric: You will need to create a rubric to guide your students towards the grade they want. This can be any type of rubric. For younger students, it may be smiley faces and frowny faces. The rubric may be a part of the Implementation guide if you choose to make it easy for students to see the entire process and have everything in one place.